james1852

Wonderful photos of Fermoy , showing the original gold leaf Stencilwork in the panels of the Sanctuary. This work was carried out in the early years of the last century by J. Hodkinson & Sons ,Limerick and the original drawings and designs are still in their archives.

@Praxiteles wrote:

The Sacred Heart Church, The Cresent Limerick

Sad to see this church now , stripped bare , lying empty and closed up

@apelles wrote:

Terrific Stuff James1852… My goodness look at the gap distance between the planks on the scaffolding up top..no safe-pass course’s back in 1925 then!

Ties & overalls…Brilliant…Of the twelve pictured here, I wonder would any have been employed locally to help?

Yes, there were always some local men employed on each job, although most of the craftsmen travelled from Limerick. All the men generally stayed until the work was completed as the working week was six days back then.We have references of them travelling by horse-drawn coaches , and in earlier times they traveled by Bianconi’s Coaches in 1859 to the decorate the twin Churches in Wexford.
Also it is not so long ago since gaps were left between the planks to spare the amount used, I can remember being on such scaffold in the late 70s, early 80s and clambering up the bars to reach the top 50 or 60 feet up.
All employees of the firm wore shirts and ties right up to the 70s partly out of respect for the buildings they were working in.

These photos are from our archive and show St. Mels Cathedral in 1925 while it was being Decorated by J. Hodkinson & Sons Ecclesiastical Decorators , Limerick , under the management of Louis Hodkinson. It had been previously Decorated by Louis’s father , James , in 1886. On both these occassions the Cathedral was richly decorated with stenciled designs and gold leaf work, all of which had been painted over in later years. Some of this work can be seen in the interior photo below , on the ceiling, and also in previous photos of the sanctuary, pre vatican 2, posted earlier.
REPOSTED PHOTOS as previous were not that clear.

@apelles wrote:

The inclusion of Sts Clement and St Alphonsus in the apse design above would suggest a connection with the Redemptorists. Praxiteles is not inclined to think that it ios Limerick – though the inclusion of St Clement here would at fiorst sight suggest that (but we already know that Hodkingsons of Limmerick did that interior). Perhaps someone ,ight look at teh Redemptorist monastery in Belfast or perhaps in Dublin as alternative candidates.

Quite possibly Prax but as we have seen before these interiors would have been remodelled & redecorated a number of times..correct me if I’m wrong but wasn’t Fermoy firstly painted by Hodkingsons of Limerick & later reworked by Craftworkers of Dublin? I’m sure that many beautiful interiors were wiped out only to be replaced with different beautiful interiors by other contractors…until more recently of coarse when they were wiped out to be replaced with white gloss & magnolia emulsion..or if you were lucky a flourescent pink!

Apelles, Your perfectly right, many church interiors were redecorated in completley different decorative schemes throughout the years , some more ,and some less elaborate than the previous schemes. A recent restoration project in Limerick revealed three different elaborate decorative schemes in a side altar of the Redemptorist Church ,carried out between 1868 and 1942 each one completly obliterated the previous ,until finally being whitewashed in the 60’s, but now restored back to the original scheme of 1868 . The ‘ Early ‘ drawing of the Redemptorist Apse is definatley not St.Alphonsus church in Limerick, more probably dublin or dundalk. Early’s rarely worked in the decorative side of the business south of Dublin as Hodkinsons had established a strong business presence in the area from Sligo down to Cork and back up to Kildare.There was a friendly rivalry,and a mutual respect, between both businesses with each rarely venturing into the others territory. Of course , Earlys had a more varied business with their marble-works and stained glass business ,both areas into which Hodkinsons again rarely ventured , although they were agents for an English stained glass firm at one stage in their history. The decoration in Fermoy Parish Church may have been the only scheme as it remained in place for several decades.

@apelles wrote:

On the subject of St. Mel’s…not sure if anyone ever answered this one for you Praxiteles… the present colour scheme is not original as I know it was repainted in the late 1950’s… there is no stencilling on this ceiling whatsoever… it is decorative plasterwork picked out in greys & pinks highlighted in gold leaf…the crossbanding effect across the panels is dust that’s settled on the plaster where there are no rafters above (for some strange reason!)

St Mel’s was completly decorated with elaborate stencil designs on the ceiling panels and walls in 1925 by J Hodkinson & Sons , Limerick. This work is , as far as I know, all painted out now, however some photos do exist of this work.

@Praxiteles wrote:

James 1852!

Have you seen this recently built church in the diocese of La Cross in the USA?

http://www.stroik.com/

Yes Praxiteles, a magnificent example of what can be achived when the right people are in charge!

@ake wrote:

but how would this come about? why would they leave the decoration in the sanctuary intact?

This was actually quite a common practice unfortunatly, and there are many examples like this throughout the country. When churches decided to obliterate the ornate stencilwork of the 19th and early 20th century, some luckily retained the decoration in the sanctuary area either on the ceiling or walls. This may have been done as a concession to those who opposed the plain painting of the church or it may have been done for monetry reasons when the cost of complete redecoration may have been prohibitive.

@Praxiteles wrote:

Is this the Franciscan Church in Limerick?

The colour scheme is just appalling!!

The colour scheme in this church, in particular the capitals of the pillars caused outrage in Limerick when it was carried out some years ago, not by a painting contractor but by a group the franciscans were rehabilitating !!!!!!!. The colours were chosen by a newly appointed franciscan pryor who refused to acceed to the peoples requests to change the scheme.He has now moved on but his legacy remains.This church is due to close next year when the franciscans move out and donate the church to Mary Immaculate teacher training college.

There are photos of Fethard PC, Co. Tipperary. One taken in the 1920s and the other recently.

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